This is a good review. You really drove home the point that the game is really complex and not newbie-friendly, but I didn't mind, because the whole game that's all I ever thought. So, it's good to have a review that pretty much describes the gaming experience to a T.

The one thing I noticed, and far be it from me to say because I'm not a great reviewer and I almost feel guilty for saying this because I really am a HUGE fan of your reviews, is that sometimes it feels like the review is geared towards people who already know what the game is like. I understand what you were talking about because I've played the game, but I could see someone who wouldn't know Final Fantasy 12 from Flesh Fantasies 12 not having a clue what you were talking about sometimes. (for instance, you don't really describe the turn based style of the game. You almost make it seem like a Tales-like action-RPG from what I gathered.)

Regardless, not every review has to be geared towards newbies, since there's a ton of reviews out there on the game, and it's nice to read one that explains the game pretty much perfectly. Another great review from you.

Thanks a lot for the compliments. Just hearing any praise for it means something because this was one I struggled with for a long time.

I about had to take a "newbie-unfriendly" mode just because of how big the game is. I'm trying to keep my reviews more concise than they used to be in the GameFAQs days (no more 11K FF VII monsters), but when I'm talking about a big game that I spent a ton of time with, it's hard to not binge on words. One of my main problems with what I was writing was that I seemed to be on the verge of getting into Ashley Winchester-length if I talked about everything I felt notable. So, I decided that due to the fact I'm not exactly talking about an obscure game people don't know much about, I could afford to slant my review towards people with familiarity towards the game. At least that way, my review might be different from the masses that already have touched this game.

I've actually found over the years that since, with the exception of free games I get from Jason for immediate review, everything I do is either a retro game or a modern game ranging from a few months to a couple of years old, that I am far more comfortable writing in a style that assumes the reader has some knowledge of the game. Like, if you read my DQ 5 review I did last week, I went into great detail on how, unlike other DQ games, this one made the plot a big focus and did so nicely. But when it comes to my gameplay comments, if you don't know the DQ style of gameplay, you'll just come away knowing I like that style, but not necessarily what it is.

I think it's because I'm a lot better at explaining how a game makes me feel and why it makes me feel what I feel than I am at explaining the more technical aspects of how it works. That might explain why, out of all the reviews (6-10) I've done for HG-freebies, I'm only truly proud of a couple of them (DQ VIII and the Gundam fighting game whatever it was called....and maybe Metal Saga). I thought a number of the others came off as forced because I was trying to explain too much, as opposed to just saying what I felt.